CSU Oval Criterium

The local race scene kicked off this past Saturday. The CSU Rams cycling team hosted the legendary Oval Criterium. I did this race 2 years ago when I was visiting campus before making the decision to move to Fort Collins. The course is held on campus. The weather was nice. A bit chilly in the morning, but it warmed up quite nicely by the time I raced (1:00). The fields were decent sized the entire day. Not sure on exact numbers, but there was somewhere near 20 women in the Women's Open race. Our race was 50minutes long. Vitamin Cottage threw down some early attacks. I attacked once, but nothing stuck. A few laps later, I attacked again. I peaked under my arm and saw that Lea Davinson was coming up behind me and there was a pretty big gap behind her. Sweet! So Lea caught up to me and then Megan Hottman bridged up to us. This all happened around 12minutes into the race. The three of us worked together pretty well and had quite a big gap. The last few laps of the race we spent gaging our efforts off the back of the main field. We had all agreed not to lap the field and to play it safe. It was the first race of the season and we didn't want to get caught in any crashes. The last lap came and we started playing games. Lea attacked on the back side of the course but I quickly latched on to her wheel. She attacked again coming close to the finish but I held position and sprinted around her at the right time to hold off the win. Megan came in behind me for 2nd and Lea 3rd. It was a fun race and a great workout. It's awesome to be racing again. I'll post some pictures once I find them.

On another note, CSU dominated the weekend. We won 4 out of the 5 collegiate race and 3 out of the 4 open races. Sweet!!

Thanks for stopping in!
-A